August 2021 Babies - From Santa to Solids, Hohoho!

[PurplePansy05]

Here we go again!

I'd do another delightful intro, alas I've lost count which thread this is now and we all know our LO's names anyway 😁

So instead I will just say, Merry First Christmas together to you and your LOs! 🎄❤🎁

May the sleep regression pass as soon as they see Santa later this week...

...May they love weaning and may our kitchens survive...

...May 2022 be full of blessings for them and for us ❤❤❤

Oldcomers and newcomers welcome, as always! 🥰

I'm unconvinced when it comes to BLW @Inmypjsagain. Maybe there are babies who prefer this method straight away. Leo isn't one of them I'd think most babies would likely find it easier with purees first before they're a bit bigger and more capable of picking stuff up and feeding themselves? So if we're meant to wean them around 6mo they're not great at BLW. I don't know, obviously only going by my own child's preferences. I also agree with you about choking, I was worried to give him fussili with sauce but actually giving him a full piece on a spoon or to hold made it safer as he bit off what he wanted and proceeded to chew. It's a bit counter-intuitive sometimes, you'd think smaller pieces are always better, but it depends. Anyway, pasta is the only thing he ate via BLW tbh. He reaches out and tries to pick up but most lands in his bib 🤣

Another reason why I'm unconvinced is because we don't eat with our hands all that much and neither do we eat finger foods all the time. I'm not sure how helpful this is, apart from getting to know different textures and learning to use their hands which are obvious benefits. It creates quite a lot of food waste too

Thanks for the tips re creams, I followed @kagerou's advice and bought Weleda a couple of days ago and it's another very good product from them 😊

He bashes these eggs, removes lids and throws them or tries to eat them 😆 But they have multiple other features, and when they're bigger they can learn colour coordination and putting them in the correct spot as the bottoms are shaped differently. So for £8 or whatever, they should keep them entertained for a while IYSWIM.

Same here poo-wise, brown with various hints of colour, quite formed but on a soft side and doesn't smell good at all.

I thought the same about milk, he's now eating solids/purees/cereal twice a day and I've noticed he takes a bit less formula (still adores boobie though). I was going to ask if this might be because there's milk in cereal? They might just be getting quite full anyway? I was googling this yesterday and supposedly they should still be taking in around 600ml of milk per day at 6 mo, plus food. xx

@PurplePansy05 I agree with your points about BLW, I saw an interesting thread in the weaning section where a poster regretted it, but I feel it’s such the “done” thing that some people find it odd if you don’t. But the wastage and mess, I only see it with my niece but honestly the mess is just hideous. And it’s expensive, an avocado thrown on the floor uneaten everyday adds up! I dont enjoy cooking much and I see my SIL making stuff which takes time and about 2 mouthfuls actually get eaten, which is a bit soul destroying!

Also you make a good point about offering a big bit, I thought that when I broke a bit off the puff off and suddenly thought the big bit was better… then I tried to stop thinking about it because I panic! I think it’s the biting thing, he does the biting motion but it doesn’t actually get bitten, I think I’d be more confident if he could bite the fusilli! Your Lucky baby with that dinner though, sounds nicer than my own food l!

I’ll get the eggs, didn’t think about them being good for throwing, that’s the best game at the moment, from the high chair, every stacking cup, Sophie, his oball car, his spoon. Do these ones have shapes at the bottom too? Having said that today’s favourite toys were a sock that I’d left on the playmat and the insert of a Thorntons chocolate pack 😂

The info about milk is really helpful, thank you, he had 840ml today plus the packets so hopefully that’s enough. I’m really not sure about the cereal? I’d have just thought it was filling! But I guess if they’re hungry they’ll let us know by waking up or -asking for more in the day, it just seems odd and I’m finding it hard to adjust. I think weaning just seemed so far away and now it’s here I’m a bit 🤯 and I get so much conflicting information on google!

@PurplePansy05 I did the same with that cup for ds!
Dd will hardly take a purée or spoon feed. She will lift everything else to her mouth but I seriously doubt she is getting any calories from it I mean like yesterday she ate maybe 1 squished strawberry and maybe 1 piece of grated cheese, plenty of cheese went in was chewed about and came back out again, same with melon, pineapple and pasta I don't think she actually swallowed much, toast is a bit but again sucked then usually most ends up on her or the high chair. But also she's still not sitting steady in the Tripp trapp. I don't more whether I should be getting worried at that. It sounds like everyone else is sitting pretty well unaided she is still very slumped forward in the high chair or wobbly

@sarah13xx DS hasn't had something every day either. I've mostly been using pouches or jars but when I have 'made' him something I've always prepped it the day before. He did eat almost an entire jar earlier so hopefully we won't regret that one. It's the most he's ever had in one sitting!

Busy here too (not moving house busy though!!! You have my sympathies!) - today I secured some freelance design work through an architect, and I also have a wedding fair booked for early March for my hopeful side hustle. Quite a lot needs doing and obviously I only have evenings and weekend to be productive when DH is here. Last night I did a late night and he did the night shift, and he's offered to do the same tonight so I'm going to take him up on it and hopefully get a good chunk done.

That's fair enough if that's her preference @Smurf123. Leo seems more focused on eating and less on exploring, he actually cried today after eating a load of pasta with sauce and mango for desserts. Cried that all was finished 😂🙈 He now sleeps like a trooper during the day, probably because he's so full!

Regarding her position, did you play around with the footrest? How much does she weigh now? My friend's baby girl is quite petite and definitely doesn't sit unaided yet.

@Inmypjsagain Here is my eggcelent photo for you

I was on MN the first time around with DS1 when BLW first came out and I think the thing is that the real focus of BLW (which is why it was called "baby led" is not so much the finger feeding but the fact it goes at the baby's pace. It has changed on here since then as at that time people were very very keen on weaning at 17 weeks exactly or even 3-4 months still as that was the older recommendation (although it's been 4-6 months for AGES now and certainly was then too).

It is normal with BLW for things to go very very slowly at first and for them not to really pick up and start eating loads until more like 8-9 months or sometimes later. If you want to get going quicker than that then yes spoon feeding/traditional weaning is probably better. I don't think it makes a huuuge amount of difference long term, except that if you're the kind of person who can cope with the lack of control that BLW gives you in the beginning then you're possibly less likely to stress over food control issues later? Maybe? So more correlation than causation. I'm sure people say BLW makes them completely chilled but then I think if they weren't chilled to start out with they wouldn't have done BLW. :o

Alex has started putting himself down to sleep now which is lovely but it's so unusual to me I'm not sure how to handle it! I wonder if I should try feeding him and then putting him down and leaving the room. At the moment I feed him, put him down and then scoot over in the bed so I'm not right next to him, but he can still hear and see me. I'm thinking it would be good if he did just go down to sleep by himself as in not having bedtime take several hours like it used to with the older two. And it would definitely be helpful once I move him in to be with his brother. At the moment they are going to bed at roughly the same time so not sure how to stagger it without DS2 getting all excited and wanting to talk etc.

Also he always flips over and sleeps on his front. He's been doing it consistently for 3/4 nights now. I had been moving him because I was worried about his breathing but it just wakes him up. I decided to leave him tonight and just watch him on the monitor and he is such a troll every so often he just moves like this to freak me out :o (Five minutes later, he's turned his head to the side again).

Alex doesn't sit unaided. I got the inflatable insert for his highchair and he's pretty wedged in with that.

Ohh I meant to ask - those of you who's babies are starting to successfully eat a bit more actual food - are they sleeping better at night...? Or do I just give up all hope on DS every going longer than 3 hours 😂

@PurplePansy05 thank you! They look really good, will treat myself to them I think!

@RandomCatGenerator that sounds so stressful for you. I can't offer much on most of it, but we've flown quite a few times with Rowan now, including long haul - I was so nervous for our first flight but it's all honestly been fine. He's cried a bit on most flights but not for too long, and people have only ever been lovely (on our long flight out to our holiday the cabin crew offered to hold him 😂 and also held back my food so DH could eat while I held Rowan and then the other way round). Worth bringing some calpol/bonjela/nurofen on the plane I'd say. And if you can keep him awake in the airport, he should hopefully drop off really nicely on the plane and sleep fairly well (they move and make white noise so great for baby sleep) - we always forward face him in the carrier in the airport and he's fascinated by the goings on.

@Daffodil21 Leo has always been a decent sleeper at night so I can't comment as weaning didn't seem to have any impact. If anything, his teeth sometimes bother him now and he wakes up, but goes back to sleep. But his daytime naps have 100% improved and they're longer now, it seems he is now moving to 2 longer naps per day, one is at least 1.5hrs or even longer. I've also decided his final nap must not be later than 4pm, otherwise he will not fall asleep between 7-8pm. It's sooo strange to be able to watch Netflix in the eve with a baby monitor! I'm not used to having an evening to rest/do anything!

@BertieBotts will the boys be sharing a bedroom? I bet Leo will be very excited to have baby Alex with him. This must be difficult to coordinate but it sounds like you're in a very good position if they go to bed at similar times? Will you have a monitor in their bedroom? xx

Yes, that's why I got one with two cameras so we can have one pointed at each. We have one in each room now because Leo still wakes up with nightmares semi regularly. Today he was telling me all matter of fact about the mummy monster (ie, me! ) that lives in the hole between his bed and the wall and she comes and pulls him out of bed it's a bit spooky, I don't know where he comes up with these ideas! He doesn't watch anything scary on TV!

@PurplePansy05 aww poor Leo that's amazing he's eating so well! 🙂
I'm not sure how much she weighs but she was on about the 9th centile the last time she was weighed which was at 4 months (next appointment is due but it's the 6-9 month one so I'm guessing it might still be a while?)
She's only just in 6-9 month clothing and tbh that's more just for her length rather than anything else. I think for ds we mainly used an old high chair we had borrowed from my aunt as we hadn't yet bought the Tripp trapp and it was one you could be in from birth so with the high well padded back, straps and reclining back and the tray went in as close as you needed so it's hard to remember with him. I've added straps to the Tripp trapp and moved the footrest up and she sits better but she still seems to wobble forward. Putting a towel in front of her sort of helps keep her up a bit straighter but tends annoy/ distract her.

@BertieBotts we have similar nightmares at times with ds. I made the mistake of thinking he'd enjoy monsters Inc... which he did .. while actually watching itwas giggling etc. then we had about 2 solids weeks of him waking up terrified that there were monsters in his bedroom at night 🙈
We have taken the camera out of his room as now using it for dd but I miss being able to see him.. reminding myself that he will be 4 next month and really shouldn't need it..

@RandomCatGenerator @BertieBotts think I will need to start pre-preparing stuff to make it easier. We don’t have a freezer in our temporary flat, the kitchen is tiny and we don’t have a dishwasher so everything just feels like a huge hassle just now 🙈 hopefully only a few weeks until we move to the house and my whole life will fall into place (or so im telling myself) 😂

@Inmypjsagain aw it sounds like he’s getting stuck right into the weaning now! I’ve only done the odd time where I’ve given him an actual vegetable to see what he does with it but the times I have not a single bit has got into his mouth, it’s just been thrown on the floor and all over the tray 😂 The dogs are sooo interested in him now they’ve worked out this tiny human actually gets food so they’re like circling round the high chair on the lookout for crumbs the entire time 🤦🏼‍♀️

Everything has got soooo expensive, the news today is so doom and gloom! We managed to get a lease car sorted, I think we were very lucky but it was one someone had ordered then cancelled, the rest all seemed to be a 6 month wait! So that’s one thing ticked off the list at least 🙈

@Daffodil21aw amazing! So glad it’s getting going now 😅 A few weeks in and itl feel like you’ve been doing it freelance forever! The late nights are what’s killing me but I think the fact DH is having to go and work at the house every night when he comes in from work means I’m not getting peace to get started til he’s in bed at 8. I do find I’m quite productive at night though when there’s less distractions! Until the point I’m hitting now when my eyes are starting to sting and I’m talking myself into this being my last one of the night. If only we didn’t have to sleep and could just do a night shift to live both lives 😂

@sarah13xx I'm calling it a night now too. I was hoping to go for longer but I just can't. Writing out what needs to be done this weekend is a bit scary but DH will take Elliot all weekend at least. He still won't go to bed at a decent time so I can't put him to bed and then get on, but DH just takes him for the evening. I really hope the fair is worth it, it is turning into a bit of an expense but I guess the design job should cover the expenses if I don't get any sales for the wedding stationery stuff. I am so pleased I've got a private job so soon. It was through a friend of a friend and it's not a direct client of my own but it's freelance all the same!

I actually enjoy working in the evenings and having some solid time to get things done. I tried to reply to an email today for the design stuff and it literally took me three attempts. In the end I just waited until my friend was stopping in and handed over Elliot 😂 as you say - if only we didn't need sleep! Ah your kitchen situation sounds like a nightmare atm! Just do what you need to do to get through it!

Over and out for tonight!

On hopeless mother in law episode 47 today… she’d messaged me last week to arrange to take Freddie out in the pram today. It’s always got to be such a big event, she says a week in advance I hope the weather is okay. Like yeah, I manage to go a walk every day and it’s fine, worst case scenario bring a jacket 😂

She ‘can’t do mornings’ as I’ve previously said on here, because she can’t be up and ready til lunch time of course 🤔 So she was coming in the afternoon. I had left 2 orders all morning that needed done today so that I could get them done and posted in the afternoon while she had him. Went out a walk with him in the morning and it was such a lovely day, sun shining and actually really warm for February, it was 11 degrees!

Low and behold half an hour before, she texts saying she’s not coming to get him anymore because she thinks it’s a bit too cold for a walk 😑 She’s clearly just rolled out her bed and thought nah I don’t fancy it today. She’s arranged five walks I think and taken him on two. Cancelled once because it was maybe going to rain and once because I said we had a baby class in the afternoon so she’d have to go about 10:30am. She couldn’t possibly get up for that time so told me she’d just leave it. There’s only so many times I can reply ‘Okdoke no worries’ like her pathetic excuses are okay so today I thought nah I’m not being polite this time 😂 Sent a blunt text back pointing out what a lovely day it was to highlight her extreme laziness. If she had other stuff happening in her life I’d think fair enough if she cancelled because of the weather once but she is literally sat there all week doing nothing so that was her one activity of the week cancelled because she woke up and just couldn’t be bothered. Then I was left to scramble about taking him to my mum’s to get everything done in time. Told DH and he basically just rolled his eyes at her laziness. If that was my mum I’d definitely be pulling her up on it but he just says nothing and I’ve to then go through the same thing again and again til she decides it’s the optimum temperature for a walk in 3 years time 🙄😂

@sarah13xx Next time just assume she's not coming and plan your own stuff. Then text her half hour before saying 'baby has just gone down for a nap, sorry, we can't do today, maybe another time' xx

@PurplePansy05 that’s a great idea! 😂 It’s more hassle than it’s worth having the texts back and forwards to arrange something, only for her to then cancel. It’s like she has no concept of what having a baby is like 🙈

@Daffodil21 I’m sure it will be! When is it? You can get sooo much more done when you aren’t half trying to look after a baby at the same time 🙈 I have so many attempts at trying to get through the same order while he’s there then just abandon it eventually! Tried to get up early to get stuff done before he was up but only just woke up now so that’s my chance gone 😂

@sarah13xx oh wow, how frustrating! I really don't understand how someone can be like that. How did she respond to your blunt text? I hope she got the message!!! It's on 9th March, but we have another trek down south before then (driving this time). I can take stuff with me to do at my mum's though so it's not like I won't be able to do anything, and DH will be there during the day too so I won't have to work late at night. I have to say, I feel more refreshed after a later night and earlier morning than I do after a longer night but disturbed by DS 😂 DH did the night last night as well so I could work late. I'm kind of liking this arrangement!!!!!

So many messages!

Isaac isn’t sitting unaided yet either and he has the inflatable insert in the IKEA high chair else there would be too much space in there with him iyswim.

However! Weaning is still going well, he literally reaches for everything I have in my hand. He likes scotch pancakes and crumpets too. I’m probably being a little too Relaxed with what I’m feeding him tbh but trying to juggle that with a three year old is difficult. He probably doesn’t actually eat/swallow a lot but I think it’s good for him to taste a variety of things. I do still feed him porridge mixed with expressed him in the evening as he’s sleeping better now and I have no idea if that’s one of the reasons as he feels fuller? I don’t want to risk not doing it and sleep be terrible agai. 🤣🤣

Well done on the job @Daffodil21 I bet that is a weight off your mind. Are you going to set up an Etsy page for your side hussle? I love the personalised drawings you can have done for weddings (wouldn’t mind one for me and DH!)

@sarah13xx you sould super busy and I don’t envy you! But so glad your little business venture is going well, don’t burn yourself out though. And your mil sounds bloody useless! I would 100% do what @PurplePansy05 and message saying sorry you have to cancel one day!!

@RandomCatGenerator Try not to stress, im sure everything will fall into place. Are you looking forward to coming back to the U.K.? We’re you in India for work?

Purple thank you for the reminder of the tomy eggs! I do have them in the house somewhere as DS1 had them as a baby! I will have to dig them out.

I find the stage where they can’t sit unaided but hate lying down so difficult!

@Magik01 I'm with you with the weaning and a 3 year old. Dd loved potato waffles this week 🙈 on the other hand I've been surprised at ds actually trying some fruits/ veg sticks because dd was having them - he didn't eat them but for him to lift and actually take a small bite is huge!

It's snowing here, just dropped ds to school and I'm now sitting in the car at the house because dd has fallen asleep and im not for waking her 🙈

@Smurf123 DS2 had some of DS1 flipper dippers the other day 😂 he loved it as well! They are like fish fingers but fish shaped and don’t fall apart if you pick them up. Figured he will eat them eventually may as well start now!